Standing at 4,061m, Gran Paradiso is the highest mountain entirely within Italy. It is a domineering, isolated and easily recognisable peak. Sat atop a picturesque glacier, the snowy bulk of Gran Paradiso is crowned by a tower of rock and a large white statue of the Virgin Mary. We bagged this classic 4000-er early in the mountaineering season and were rewarded with a mind-blowing sunset and peaceful solitude.

The Chabod Route

When climbing Gran Paradiso, there are two main route choices based on which hut you stay at before your summit attempt: Rifugio Emanuele and Rifugio Chabod. The Emanuele route is slightly easier and shorter, whilst the Chabod route involves traversing the crevassed Laveciau Glacier and adds an extra half hour to your summit bid.

We chose to climb Gran Paradiso as our first foray into unguided Alpine mountaineering. It’s one of the easiest ‘big’ peaks, but still offers a phenomenal glacier crossing and exciting summit scramble. We wanted to climb the Chabod route because it is the less popular route. It offers a more interesting (and slightly more challenging) ascent, and is less likely to be crowded. In my opinion, one of the most rewarding aspects of Gran Paradiso is the fact that there are no mechanical lifts to aid the climb. Therefore, you have to earn your success.

Day 1

Our adventure started in the most mundane way possible: sitting in traffic. We sat in a queue at the Mont Blanc tunnel for hours thanks to ‘unscheduled maintenance’. Finally, with bladders about to pop, we made it through to Italy. We arrived at the Pravieux car park at 11:30am, donned our B3s, heaved our bulky rucksacks onto our backs and set off on the trail up to the Chabod hut.

The approach hike was a fantastic warm up for the ensuing summit bid. The trail meandered up through a picturesque Alpine forest, switchbacking regularly and occasionally giving us teasing glimpses of the Gran Paradiso mountain range. It was hot and humid. Due to the snow melt higher up, some stretches of the path had turned into a stream. I made a marmot friend along the way, and we even spotted some Alpine ibex!

The last stretch of the hike was made considerably more tiring due to the lingering spring snow. We were forced to choose between attempting to follow the hidden path and sinking down into the knee-deep Slush-Puppie snow or scrambling over the steeper, rocky ground to the North. We opted for the scramble, and arrived at the Chabod hut hot and sweaty by 2:00pm.

The Chabod Hut

As we were waiting to check-in, we overheard the Rifugio guardian on the phone telling some prospective summiteers that Gran Paradiso was currently only accessible by snowshoe. Our hearts dropped. Having to use snowshoes for a 4000-er in summer wasn’t something we had even considered! Thankfully, the kindly guardian assured us that she had some snowshoes we could rent. Our original plan had been to ascend Gran Paradiso via the Chabod hut, but to descend via the Emanuele in order to avoid the widening crevasses of the glacier in the midday sun. However, renting the snowshoes tied us to an out-and-back.

We dumped our stuff in our private room (luxury!) and went to scout out the summit route. We encountered snow almost immediately after leaving the hut. Normally, the start of the hike is on rocky moraines and scree slopes. I very quickly understood why everyone was using snowshoes when, after about 30 seconds on the snow, my foot sank through the weak layers and I ended up waist deep in a snow hole! My boot was trapped and Tom had to haul me out of my snowy trap without sinking himself! We quickly aborted our reconnaissance mission, and went back to the hut to see who else would be attempting the ascent in the morning.

The Evening Before the Climb

The hut was fairly quiet, with only ourselves and a couple of guided groups set to attempt the summit via the ‘normal’ route. There were also two French aspirant Mountain Guides who were going to tackle Gran Paradiso from its more challenging North face. The guides actually recognised us from our climb on Triangle du Tacul a few days prior (I think my bright pink mountaineering trousers may have something to do with that…)! I was slightly unnerved by being the only people on the route who were neither guided, nor guides themselves, but the French climbers assured us that we would find the route easy after our day on Tacul!

We enjoyed a good Italian three course dinner before heading outside to watch the sunset – the most dramatic sunset I have witnessed so far! The show started with characteristic pink Alpenglow creeping up the slopes of Gran Paradiso. Shortly after, the sky over the rest of the Graian Alps started to turn a flaming orange. Clouds accumulated and provided texture to the glowing, kaleidoscopic sky. Eventually, the pinks and oranges merged to create a unified dusky purple backdrop that perfectly illuminated the jagged black silhouettes of distant peaks. I was extremely glad that I had dragged my heavy camera up with me to capture the moment.

At 10:30pm, after sorting out our gear and bags, it was bed time.

Day 2

I awoke at 3:45am to the high pitched trill of my alarm. I had barely slept, but the adrenaline and excitement for the adventure ahead ensured I felt surprisingly perky. We went to breakfast, shovelled down some Nutella and toast and then headed down to the kit room to don our boots and bags.

Tom and I had previously debated the pros of being the first ones to set out for the summit (not being held up by slower groups, and being able to enjoy uninterrupted views) against the cons (the increased effort of being the first ones to break trail, and not having the psychological safety net of being able to see others around us). In typical misanthropic style, we decided that we wanted the mountain to ourselves and so we left the Chabod hut at 4:30am, 10-15 minutes before the others.

Ascent

We started up the moraines, trying to follow the vague track with just the light of our head torches and the faint glow of the crescent moon. One minute we were walking up steep, icy slopes that warranted crampons and the next we were sinking metres into soft, moist snow. After putting snowshoes on and taking them back off, we decided that it would be most efficient to put them back on and leave them on. We also realised that it was quicker and easier to walk on the virgin snow beside the track, rather than directly following the footprints. A fair amount of time was wasted, but we were still far above the other climbers.

The Laveciau Glacier

Eventually, we reached the Laveciau Glacier. It was hard to tell where the glacier actually began thanks to the presence of heavy snow, but we roped up as soon as we reached the imposing seracs. We plodded on up the glacier under the Northwest side of Gran Paradiso and morning dawned around us. The sunrise was comparatively unspectacular which I took to be a good sign (red sky in the morning, Shepherd’s warning!).

We had made a mental note of various “checkpoints” that we would pass on our ascent from the safety of the Chabod hut, and it wasn’t long until we reached our final checkpoint – “The Col” (imaginative naming from yours truly). The glacier steepened greatly as we approached The Col, and a long push to the saddle followed. The temperature dropped and the wind picked up. We switched out our snowshoes for crampons, as the harsh winds had scoured the snow of The Col leaving an icy base. My hands and feet became numbingly cold, so there was no stopping for water or snacks, much to the dismay of my growling stomach and dry mouth.

Summit Push

After ‘topping out’ from The Col, we met the Emanuele route. Despite being the first team from the Chabod, there were a couple of teams ahead of us from the Emanuele. The two routes converged for the steep, snowy summit push. I was expecting this dreaded final slog to be exhausting and unpleasant, but I actually felt pretty good – energised enough to sing my way up to the band of rocks! The difference that being well acclimatised makes is huge. The teams ahead skied and hiked down past us as we approached the summit scramble, and we once again had the mountain to ourselves. The last 20m section was a fun and exposed scramble on easy rock. We were finally face-to-face with the famous Madonna at 9:20am!

Making the most of the fact that we had the summit to ourselves, I snapped some pictures of the incredible uninterrupted panorama that surrounded us (yes, I completely ignored the whole ‘fast and light’ thing by carrying bulky old Nigel the Nikon up – no regrets!). We spent about 15 minutes on the summit savouring the views and having some much needed water. We watched as our French friends topped-out onto the summit ridge from their North face climb. Clouds started to come in, so we took this as our cue to leave. Just as we were about to begin our descent, a duo from the Emanuele arrived – just in time to get a picture of Tom and I on the summit together!

Descent

The first half of the descent was quick and easy. Our crampons were biting nicely into the hard, icy snow and we were refreshed enough to maintain a quick pace. The weather behind us was worsening, and we were extremely glad we had decided to start our ascent early. We switched back to snowshoes at the end of ‘The Col’, and wondered why we had carried our snowshoes up to the summit with us when everyone else had just left theirs in the snow!

On the flatter part of the glacier, the previously invisible crevasses were slowly starting to wake up, opening their wide and terrifying mouths as the sun softened and melted the protective overlaying snow. Whilst some of the crevasses were large and obvious, many were still hidden by a thin layer of weak snow. I became quite proficient at spotting the tell-tale sagging depressions that indicate the presence of these hidden chasms (polite way of saying that I’m far more observant than Tom!), so we switched leads so that I was in front.

Slush-Puppie Snow

We carried on, stepping gingerly over crevasses and taking care to maintain good rope discipline. We crossed the gaping bergschrund which had been hidden on our ascent. I stared into it as I crossed, and was amazed by just how deep and cavernous the underlying canyon was. As terrifying as they may be, I find crevasses and seracs to be bizarrely beautiful and eerily entrancing…

The further down the mountain we got, the worse the snow conditions became. The sun was beating down fiercely at the lower altitudes. Once we left the glacier, the snow was so weak that we were sinking down to our knees even with snowshoes on. It was prime ankle-twisting territory, and slowed us down considerably. The amount of energy that was expended from repeatedly having to heave yourself out of snow holes made the second half of the descent more tiring than the whole ascent! We finally left the snow and arrived back to the Chabod hut at 12:45pm.

Down to the Valley

Our plan was to stop and have a rest, a celebratory beer, and maybe some lunch. However, the bad weather from the summit was slowly making its way down the mountain. Storm clouds were building up and it had started to rain. We decided to try and out-run the storm.

Somehow, it actually worked! We had beautiful (actually annoyingly hot!) weather for most of our descent. Tom and I were both surprised by how good we felt considering the adventure we had just had. My knees and feet were not very happy with me, but from the hips up I felt fantastic! We got back to the car at around 2:30pm and the exhaustion finally hit. I was absolutely pooped. It’s funny how long adrenaline (and a Snickers bar) can keep you going for.

Tips for Future Climbs

This was a wonderfully uneventful climb for us! Nothing disastrous happened, but we still learnt some valuable lessons.

• Leave early. Avoid crowds and get down before the weather deteriorates.
• Acclimatisation is key. Being properly acclimatised made this long ascent considerably easier.
• Check snow conditions. Before you start ascending!
• Bring your camera! Don’t listen to the haters.